Second Kiss
by TheHildur92
Summary: Sequel to First Kiss. Takes place around The Mummy Returns and relays the fate of Ardeth s relationship with Rick.


_After our encounter in the hotelroom in London, Rick stopped replying to my missives which I sent him each month. After six months of silence, Horus returned with a small piece of paper, only two sentences were written there: "I can´t do this anymore. I´m sorry. R."_

 _I raged and cursed, but my young wife Soraya seemed to have guessed the contents of the letter since she showed me incomparable patience during the next few months which followed. She didn´t try to stop me from drinking myself into oblivion, she was merely there to hold my hair back as I emptied my stomach of my dinner, and made me drinks to deal with the hangovers. Suddenly, after the initial grief had worn off, I began to see how loyal and trustworthy she was to put up with my behaviour, and decided to stop drinking._

 _I was surprised at Soraya´s faitfulness, until she one night, under the midnight starry sky beside a roaring fire in the middle of the desert, she told me her story. As an adolescent, she had fallen in love with a young man named Ahmed. He was nothing more then a lonely goat herder and therefore not suitable for the daughter of a tribal chief, like Soraya was. They had fallen in love, however and one night she convinced him to meet her. They came close to consummating their relationship, but Ahmed recoiled at the last minute, knowing my wife would be spoiled goods if he went through with it. He pulled away and two weeks later married his cousin and moved to Marrakesh to be away from temptation. Six months later, Soraya was betrothed to me, nobody the wiser about how close she had been to compromising her honour. Her objective in telling me about Ahmed was to open my eyes to the fact that I wasn´t the only one with a broken heart._

 _A thousand times I wrote to Rick and another thousand threw the note away. Ten times I went to town, called his number and slammed down the phone when he answered. Three times I bought a plain ticket to London and cancelled it at the last minute. With the passage of time, my lot got easier. I can´t say Soraya and I fell in love, but we grew to like and care for one another. I learned to respect her as a strong woman and she proved a faithful and loyal companion on our travels in the desert. She made my food and rubbed my feet at night. Our love-making was not passionate, but it was a homecoming. I would read to her at night, her head in my lap and if not happy, at least I was content._

 _Ten years passed in relative harmony._

 _Then, two of my men came running one day into the camp, telling me about some prententious British guy and a young raven-haired woman wanting to resurrect Imhotep. I went to the site and saw as they dug him from the sands, the creature who would be the death of us all. I rode back to camp with my men and when Soraya served me dinner, she leaned down and whispered; "You know what you must do."_

" _You think I should see Rick?" His name had not crossed my lips in a decade._

 _My wife nodded in response. I´d told her about our previous adventures, she had wanted to hear the tale again and again until she knew it better then me. Her favourite part was when Rick leapt out of the shadows at Hamunaptra and we faced each other for the first time._

 _A week later, I was in London. I was there in time to protect Evie but couldn´t prevent her from being kidnapped. Rick was in another part of the house, fighting Anck-su-namun and her minions. He saw the men depart with Evie but ran to his son and hugged him tightly. Alex was now a bright and strapping ten-year-old. It was only when I addressed him that he rose and his eyes met mine. We ran towards his car, but when his brother-in-law and son rounded the corner, he pushed me up against the wall and kissed me._

 _His hands found their way into my long, dark locks and he devoured me much like a thirsty traveller does when he finds water in the desert. He pulled away, pulled me into a hug and whispered in my ear; "By the gods, I´ve missed you."_

 _In a single kiss, I´d found more passion then in ten years of marriage._

 _Once we reached the British Museum and were prepating for our offensive to retrieve Evie, I saw the tattoo on his arm. Shedding our clothes was not a priority when we had sex, therefore it had escaped me until now. When I asked him to end what I had said and he knew the words, I understood the truth. I wanted to tell him, but I couldn´t. After the busride and the retrival of Evie, I was glad I had remained silent on the matter when I saw how he kissed her._

 _I had decided to return to the desert but the kidnapping of Alex changed it all. When Rick asked me to help him find his son, I couldn´t refuse. I would have ripped out mu heart and given it to him on a silver platter. No greater fool has ever been born or swallowed sweet poison as if it were ambrosia._

 _The night after Evie´s vision on the flying boat which nearly sent her over the edge, I was shaken awake by Rick.. He put a finger to his lips to still me when I reached for my dagger, thinking something might be afoot. All onboard were silently sleeping and beside us loomed the pyramids at Giza in the setting sun._

 _Rick walked to the far side of the deck and stood there gazing at the sight in front of him. I walked up to him and placed a hand on his shulder. "Are you okay?"_

" _I had a dream," Rick admitted as he turned to face me. "Why didn´t you tell me?"_

 _I gently enquired what the dream had been about._

" _I was sitting on the edge of the River Nile. Your head was in my lap and I was reading something to you. We were in a pavilion and a slave was fawning us with some kind of device made of ostrich feathers. We were laughing and I was feeding you grapes. Suddenly, I leaned over and kissed you. Then a boy came running into the tent, telling us we had been summoned by Pharoah and we left. That´s when I woke up. Why did you not tell me?"_

" _Tell you what?" I feigned ignorance._

" _This was not a mere dream. I was being shown the past. We were soulmates, together in another lifetime."_

" _You don´t believe in such superstition." I turned away but he grabbed my wrist and forcefully turned me back towards him._

" _I didn´t, until I met you." The sincerity in his eyes tells me all I need to know._

 _I extract myself from his hold. "The reason I didn´t tell you is that I wanted you to choose your own path. I wanted you to decide on your own that you wanted me in this lifetime. I wanted you to come to me of your own free will."_

 _Evie awakens and Rick goes to her before she begins to understand what is going on._


End file.
